📲 AR ads are winning...

Why they’re the key to unlocking the full potential of brand engagement...

Author

Wishu
November 27, 2023

Hello. Research from marketing efficiency platform Lunio reveals that in 2024 advertisers will waste over $71 billion on traffic generated by invalid activity- an increase of 33% from 2022.

— Hubert Trinkunas & Rosa Cecilia

Creators drive customer decisions more and more

57% of people look to creators to make purchase decisions: Consumers across various industries have come to trust creators when making their purchasing decisions. Because of the significant trust creators have built with their communities, the majority of surveyed brands said consumers are turning to creators the most compared to social media ads and celebrities.

How this affects brand building: As a result, a whopping 92% of brands plan to increase their spending on creators in 2024, and 36% plan to spend at least half of their entire digital marketing budget on creators.

Moving forward, creator content is more essential than ever: An impressive 98% of brands are using creator content for channels beyond just social media, highlighting its versatility and reach. Brands with winning creator strategies are investing in creators to maximize their impact across various channels and are focusing on achieving full-funnel impact by driving three key metrics: audience growth, awareness and increased sales.

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Latest đź’¬

  • Americans broke the online spending record on Black Friday, with a surge of 7.5% from the previous year, reaching $9.8 billion, fueled by a 9% year-over-year increase in Black Friday's online spending to $16.4 billion, as consumers continue the tradition despite earlier deals and economic concerns.

  • Instagram will now enable all users to download publicly posted Reels clips.

  • X is bringing post headlines back to link previews in-stream.

  • OpenAI was sued by nonfiction author Julian Sancton, who accused the artificial intelligence startup of illegally training its models on his work.

Loyalty programs are a win for brands this Christmas

Why are loyalty programs so popular? The tactic has multiple benefits: it can help move inventory early, while creating urgency among the core customer base to secure early sales conversions. Not to mention, pushing customers to engage with loyalty programs has become an important way for retailers to collect first-party data.

The holidays are also a popular period: According to Forrester analyst Sucharita Kodali, more brands are doing this because data shows that “shoppers want exclusive offerings and sales when they join a loyalty program.” Holiday shoppers rely on rewards programs to ease the financial burden of the holidays.

The programs also permit stronger first party data collection for brands: “We’re seeing through data that consumers are increasingly getting exclusive offers in exchange for their number or email,” explained Kelli Hobbs, vp of U.S. business development at Valuedynamx. For instance, she said, “a company we’re working with offers a deal in which you spend a certain amount and sign up for the rewards program to receive an extra 500 rewards points.”

Brands pull further X ads post Musk favoring hate speech on the platform

At least a dozen major brands have halted ad spending on X, formerly Twitter, since its latest advertiser exodus began last week over concerns about antisemitism and hate speech on Elon Musk’s social media platform.

What hate speech? The latest revolt began last week when IBM said it had suspended advertising on X after a report from progressive media watchdog Media Matters found its ad had run alongside pro-Nazi content on the platform. IBM’s decision also came after Musk had publicly endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory in a post on X earlier in the week.

Who has withdrawn? Fox Sports, Ubisoft, Axios, TechCrunch and Paris Hilton’s 11:11 Media all told CNN in recent days that they’d paused their ad spending on X, joining other large advertisers that jumped ship last week.

On Friday, a slew of major media brands including Disney, Paramount, Comcast, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal and CNN-parent Warner Bros. Discovery followed suit, although they did not specify their reasons for halting advertising on X.

Apple also reportedly pulled its ad spend on X as of last week, according to reports from multiple news outlets.

AR makes for more exciting ads

According to a study on the neurological and brand impact of AR by Mindshare UK, AR increases ad recall by a whopping 70%.

AR increases brand lift: A 2022 study by Meta’s Foresight Group uncovered a compelling insight: Campaigns that combine standard BAU ads with AR ads outperform BAU campaigns alone, delivering nearly triple the boost in brand lift.

AR drives engagement: Convenience retailer Circle K created a Rewarded AR ad campaign with the goal of increasing brand awareness and product consideration for its new coffee offering. Players were presented with the Rewarded AR ad as a floating balloon in-game. They then tapped on the ad and opened their mobile camera to interact with a 3D Circle K coffee cup placed in the space in front of them.

AR boosts conversation: One example of this is the AR advertising campaign Niantic created ahead of one of its highly anticipated live events of the year. This campaign was built to boost excitement for the event and leverage a memorable AR experience to drive merchandise sales through the Niantic Supply store.

Post SAG strike Hollywood is still grim

The road is rocky for Hollywood budgets: Hollywood's economic structure is being rewritten as studios make massive budget cuts to appease jittery investors.

Projects are being cut: The day after the strike ended, Warner Bros. Discovery shelved John Cena's "Coyote Vs. Acme" film, which completed filming last year. Most recently, on Wednesday, Netflix canceled five series including “Shadow and Bone” and “Glamorous.”

The strikes gave studios cover to dramatically rein in spending: Conversations with multiple industry insiders in the days after the strike made it clear that most expect contraction throughout the next year. That means fewer TV series greenlighted, tighter budgets on TV and film productions; and a dramatic drop in eight and nine-figure production deals for creators.

What’s next? Next year could see a renewed wave of consolidation as the streaming era spits out unworthy competitors to Netflix.

Read more…